Tyrese Haliburton’s Last-Second Shot Wins Game 1 for Pacers

Post by : Bandanpreet Kaur

Photo: AP

There was never a doubt in Tyrese Haliburton’s mind. The Indiana Pacers star has done this many times before, especially in the 2025 playoffs. He always believes in himself in the final moments of a game.

On Thursday, Haliburton made an amazing 20-foot pull-up jumper with just 0.3 seconds left, helping the Pacers complete a huge comeback and win 111-110 against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Haliburton, who is 25 years old, has now made four important shots in the closing seconds during this year’s playoffs.

The Pacers had not been leading in the whole game until Haliburton’s clutch shot at the very end.

Indiana’s Myles Turner said about Haliburton, “He has the ultimate confidence in himself. Some players say they have it, but he shows it. He wants to be the one to take the last shot and never runs away from it.”

In earlier playoff games this year, Haliburton has also made big plays at the end. In Game 5 of the first round, he drove to the basket and scored with 1.3 seconds left in overtime, winning the game and the series against the Milwaukee Bucks.

In Game 2 of the second round, he hit a step-back three-pointer with 1.1 seconds left to give Indiana the lead and put the Cleveland Cavaliers behind 2-0.

Then in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Haliburton hit another step-back shot that almost won the game but was counted as two points instead of three. This forced overtime, and Indiana won.

His shot on Thursday was just another example of his clutch performance.

The Pacers were behind by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter. Even though they got the score close near the end, the Thunder had the ball with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ready to take the final shot.

But Andrew Nembhard, guarding the league MVP, played very well and made Gilgeous-Alexander miss his shot. This opened the chance for Haliburton to take the winning shot.

With 11 seconds left, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle decided not to call a timeout, trusting his players.

Haliburton moved down the court against Oklahoma City’s Cason Wallace. He drove inside the three-point line and pulled up for a shot. The ball bounced around the rim but finally went in.

When asked if he knew the shot would go in, Haliburton said, “I had a pretty good idea.”

Indiana won even though they lost the ball 25 times in the game.

Haliburton said, “It’s not the best way to win. We can’t keep turning the ball over that much. But in May and June, it doesn’t matter how you get the points, just get them.”

The series will continue with Game 2 on Sunday in Oklahoma City.

The Thunder want to tie the series. Gilgeous-Alexander said, “The series isn’t just about the first game. It’s about winning four games. We have four more chances. They have three. That’s how it is.”

Game 1 was tough for the Thunder. They scored first and had 38 points from Gilgeous-Alexander.

Oklahoma City scored only 11 points from Pacers’ mistakes, including nine from the 20 turnovers in the first half.

The Pacers were behind by 15 points early in the last quarter but kept fighting.

Nembhard and Turner each scored eight points in the fourth quarter.

Indiana got the score to one point with 48.6 seconds left after Pascal Siakam scored on a putback.

Siakam led Indiana with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Obi Toppin scored 17 points off the bench, Turner had 15, and Nembhard added 14. Haliburton finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists.

For Oklahoma City, Jalen Williams scored 17 points but shot poorly, and Chet Holmgren only scored six points on 2 of 9 shooting.

The Thunder had a strong lead of 94-79 with less than 10 minutes left, but Indiana never gave up.

The Pacers went on a 15-4 run to get closer and then took the lead late.

Oklahoma City only scored one field goal in the last four minutes, which gave Indiana the chance to come back.

Williams said, “We played like we were trying to keep the lead instead of trying to get more points or be more aggressive.”

#trending #latest #TyreseHaliburton #PacersWin #NBAFinals2025 #ClutchShot #NBAPlayoffs #IndianaPacers #ThunderVsPacers #Game1Winner #BasketballHeroics #NBAHighlights #PlayoffDrama #FinalSeconds #NBAStars #ComebackWin #ShaiGilgeousAlexander #MiddleEastBulletin #MiddleEastNews #BreakingNews #LiveUpdates #BulletinLive #ArabPolitics #GulfEconomy #BusinessNews #WorldHeadlines #SocialUpdates #ArabCulture #TechNews #HealthUpdates #EducationNews #ClimateWatch #SportsBuzz #TravelMiddleEast #VoiceOfTheMiddleEast #TrendingNow